For our last stop in the Finistère department of Brittany we spent a few nights on the edge of the town of Le Faou, a gateway to the Crozon Peninsula. Our motorhome aire looked as if it had previously been a municipal campsite with its large grass pitches. Our timing was good and we were able to get a front row pitch overlooking the beautiful estuary, with the scenery constantly changing as the tides came in and receded, changes in weather and a lovely sunset. Once again, Joe was able to launch his boat and explore the estuary, taking care to time the tides to ensure his rather light vessel didn’t fall victim to the stronger outgoing tidal current.
The town itself, just a short walk away, is classed as a ‘Petit Cité de Caractère’ and didn’t disappoint. Once an important trading place and important port, it saw its heyday in the 16th and 17th centuries, when beech wood and oak wood from the nearby Cranou forest was loaded for the transport within France. It was also a stopping point on a key route from north to south Brittany. The timbered and gabled houses in the town are evidence of its former prosperity and many have beautiful shingle roofs. The town church is also a surprise – in its entrance porch there are beautiful carved painted figures of the 12 disciples and the ceiling of the interior is painted.
We used this site as a base to get out on the motorbike and explore the Crozon peninsula, a mixture of typical landscapes including steep cliffs, rocky promontories, small harbours and beaches. The few towns on the peninsula were quite busy and we headed to the most southerly point, Cap de la Chèvre, where there is a memorial – Mémorial de l’Aéronautique Navale – commemorating members of the naval air arm of the French Navy lost, since its creation in 1910, in the North Atlantic. The memorial is set in a former German gun emplacement looking out to see, with the names of those lost inscribed on stone tablets set within the battery. The views of the coastline are beautiful with colourful heathers on the cliff tops.
We carried on around the peninsula via Camaret-sur-Mer where our old friend Vauban, whose citadels we have admired elesewhere, also contributed to defences with his Tour Vauban, an 18 meter high brick tower built at the end of the 17th century as part of the defences of the Bay of Brest.
We would love to be able to explore every nook and cranny of the coastline if time allowed. There’s too much to see in this lovely region so we need to keep moving on!